The mayor of Victoria plans to seek a meeting with the provincial housing minister to ask for more action on supportive housing for the homeless in the city.
Council’s committee of the whole has voted to have Mayor Lisa Helps meet with interim Housing Minister Murray Rankin as soon as possible to discuss what can be done beyond the 100 units of supportive housing the province has already said will be coming to Victoria.
Depending on the outcome of that meeting, Helps has been authorized to offer $250,000 toward the next phase of housing help.
“What this proposal suggests is using resources that we are able to deploy to hopefully incentivize provincial action,” said Coun. Ben Isitt, who crafted the motion with Coun. Sharmarke Dubow. “We’ve seen very positive work that the province has done in recent years and these two recommendations are intended to encourage the province to continue to lead that important work.”
Dubow said it was a small step to explore more capacity for the unsheltered. “It all comes down to how do we extend access to dignity, quality of life and well-being?”
The goal is to get another 100 units of supportive housing for the city.
Helps noted the need for complex care is acute in the city. A hundred spaces set to open in January is “really good news,” she said. “It would be better if it came sooner, but I think that’s a good start.
“The province has been very responsive to our city and our region over the past three to four years and putting some skin in the game — $250,000 — is not nothing. And it’s probably more likely to produce results than doing nothing.
A point-in-time survey in 2020 revealed about 1,500 people were experiencing homelessness in the region, while nearly 9,000 experienced homelessness across the province.
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